On April 9, 1914, several sailors from the crew of the USS Dolphin, anchored in the port of Tampico, were arrested after landing in a restricted dock area and detained for an hour and a half. The U.S. president Woodrow Wilson demanded a 21-gun salute to the U.S. flag as an apology. When Mexican president Victoriano Huerta refused, Wilson sent a fleet to the Gulf of Mexico.

A report that arms had been dispatched to Huerta aboard the German merchant vessel Ypiranga bound for Veracruz prompted Wilson to order the port seized. The resisting Mexican force failed to stop the invading U.S. Marines and suffered about 200 casualties. Both Huerta and his rival Venustiano Carranza denounced the seizure. The action cut Huerta off from the source of needed munitions (although the arms aboard the Ypiranga did reach Huerta), but the United States permitted his opponents to be supplied. By July 1914, the Constitutionalists under Carranza were able to take over the government, and Huerta was forced into exile. On November 14 the U.S. Marines were withdrawn.

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